On July 13, Grayscale Investment’s GBTC trading volume reached $183 million — the highest in the past year. The Block.
Interest in the asset began to pick up toward the end of June, coinciding with BlackRock filing with the SEC for the creation of a Bitcoin-ETF.
The publication at the time attributed the situation to positive expectations regarding the conversion of GBTC into an exchange-traded fund.
In October 2021, Grayscale filed the relevant application. On 17 December, the SEC delayed the decision on the petition, and in February 2022 again moved the date on this matter. On 30 June, Grayscale filed suit against the regulator after a negative response.
Over the past weeks, GBTC’s discount to NAV narrowed from 44% to 28%.
On July 14, the SEC accepted for consideration applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Fidelity Investments and WisdomTree.
The Commission’s actions do not imply that the proposals will be approved or rejected. Earlier, a similar process was launched for Bitwise’s filings.
In the SEC docket, ARK Invest with 21Shares have priority based on the timing of their submissions.
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire predicted that the recent wave of filings to launch exchange-traded Bitcoin funds would lead to approval by the agency.
Bernstein analysts say the regulator will not be able to maintain its negative stance toward spot ETFs based on the first cryptocurrency for long.